


Don't say a word

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Learning Curve [24]
Category: Naruto
Genre: 2nd anniversary fic, 2ndanniversaryfic, ANBU Nara Shikaku, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Anbu Namiashi Raidou, Angst, Asphyxiation, Gen, Gift Work, Himiko - Freeform, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Life lessons fic, LifeLessonsfic, Mission Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 23:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20016391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Life Lessons ficThe boys are on their way home from a mission when they encounter trouble, a band of assassins intent on leaving no trace of themselves. The Chunin are holding their own but only by the skin of their teeth, luckily some very familiar Anbu come to their aid.





	Don't say a word

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Theycallthewind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theycallthewind/gifts).



> We've made it to two years on the main story, TWO YEARS! The official anniversary is the 30th but I'll be at a client's house with spotty wifi so I figured it was best to post things now. Many thanks to those who participated in the 2nd-anniversary quiz and I hope you all enjoy the fics for this years anniversary.
> 
> This work is a tad longer than the others...Namely, I owed Theycallthewind a bit something extra for something they helped me with.

The three manned squad was running through the trees well on their way back home after a week-long mission. A few cuts and bruises between them the mission had been a success and they were eager to go home report and then crash. 

“I want real food.” Izumo groaned as he ran. “Hot food.”

Kotetsu and Iruka chuckled at that, they might feel the same but they didn’t bemoan about it as much as Izumo did. Iruka just called out to his friend. “Himiko might make us something if we’re nice.”

Kotetsu snorted. “She’ll make us something even if we were assholes, we’ve been gone a week Iruka.”

The teen hummed, that was true. The woman loved to cook for people more so the teens and since all of them had been gone at the same time...Yeah, food was pretty much a given. “You’re right, but you better watch your language.” Iruka laughed as he dodged around a tree to avoid his friends smack.

Izumo crowed with delight. “Yeah, Kotetsu were you raised in a barn.”

“No.” He huffed in irritation.

“He’s served time there though.” Iruka taunted, their many punishments tending to deer weren’t the most pleasant of memories though it was fun to joke about now that they were past it. They didn’t spend much time in the barn let alone near the deer now that they had missions to go on. 

“So did you.” Kotetsu made sure to point out since Iruka seemed to have forgotten that.

Izumo snickered even as Iruka sent him a glare. “I know that.” He nodded back to Kotetsu. “But I didn’t get caught as much as you did.”

The teen rolled his eyes. “That’s cause Wolf just lets you get away with it and doesn’t report anything to the others.”

Iruka sent him a ‘really’ look. Kotetsu shrugged. “I don’t get away with anything, trust me, I’d prefer Himiko 9 out of 10 times.”

“You two could always just stop cursing.”

Iruka and Kotetsu glared at their friend, Izumo blinked a few times as he ran. “What?”

“Really?” Kotetsu huffed. “You curse too.”

Iruka nodded. “Sometimes worse than us.”

“Always worse than us.”

“HEY! I do not.” Izumo pouted before pointing out. “Besides I don’t spend as much time with Anbu as you two do. Makes sense that I don’t have to deal with the bullshit about cursing, we’re adults. We’re allowed to say whatever we want to say.”

Iruka shared a grin with Kotetsu. “Alright, so we’ll go home and you can say that to Himiko.”

“Or Wolf.”

Izumo paled before glaring back at his friends. “Hate you two.”

The teens laughed at their friend's plight, just because Izumo didn’t live with the Anbu didn’t mean he was stupid enough to piss them off. They ran for miles, letting the heat of the summer beat down on them, they had long since begun to sweat and it didn’t take long for their team captain to call for a break.

“Water,” Kotetsu called out before coming to a pause on the next available tree branch. He sat down with a smile as Iruka and Izumo joined him. They all looked rather drawn out now that they were sweating.

“I swear to god this summer couldn't get hotter.”

Iruka huffed at Izumo. “It’s still early in the season Izumo, it’s going to get hotter.” He took a large swallow of water, relishing the moisture in his mouth even if it wasn’t cold. Kotetsu hummed around his own drink, agreeing with Iruka.

Izumo sighed as he swallowed a drink of water before continuing. “Yeah, well I think summer can bite me.”

Iruka choked on a swallow of water, coughing a few times before Kotetsu leaned over to pat him on the back. Iruka glowered at Izumo. “Really?” He strained as he gave a few more weak coughs. “It’s a season, not a person.”

Izumo shrugged. “Pretty sure it would suck if it was a person too...Then again that might be better, I could punch summer in the face.”

Kotetsu and Iruka chuckled at Izumo’s plotting to punch a season. “I think he’s been in the heat too long.”

Kotetsu nodded along as he took a leisurely pull of his water. Sighing afterward, he glanced about, they’d been running since morning and it was mid-afternoon. They still had a ways to go, but they could make it home, even if it was going to be later than he would have liked. Then again, it would be far cooler once the sun set, that was a bonus.

“Ko?”

Kotetsu glanced to Iruka and shook his head. “Just wanting to gauge how far we have to go, we’re a few hours out still.”

Iruka hummed, glancing at the forest at large it was hard to tell where exactly they were. They’d crossed the border between the two countries two hours ago so they should be near the large river that interconnected the two sections of their country. “Yeah...Be there late tonight.”

“Not late-late, but yeah later than I anticipated.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Izumo threw out. “We’re still earlier than expected, I say we camp out.”

Iruka snorted. “Why? It’s hot and we don’t have any gear for that.”

“Who needs gear? We can just sleep on the ground.”

“Sweaty and bugs, just what I want.” Kotetsu mused. “We’re going home.” He pointedly stated as if that wasn’t already clear to his team. Iruka nodded even as Izumo huffed, the teen wasn’t about to contradict that though he might moan about it. 

“Fine...But I’m not moving for two days once we get home.”

Kotetsu rolled his eyes, that wasn’t up to them. “Yeah, take that up with the Hokage.”

“I will.” Izumo threw back with a secure head nod.

Iruka chuckled at his friend's boastful comment, neither he or Kotetsu saw that happening. Izumo’s false bravado would go out the window once anyone else was around. He sure as hell wouldn’t go before the Hokage himself and demand time off. 

“Come on, we need to continue.” Kotetsu got to his feet, stashing his water at his side. Iruka was quick to follow though Izumo took another pull of water before rising. When they were once more ready to continue traveling Kotetsu took a leap forward and continued home. His team right behind him.

********

“I get loaned out and it’s to you in this pit of a mission.”

Shikaku snorted. “Don’t sound so happy there.”

“Are you? This was a crapshoot.”

“Not going to argue that.”

“Thank god for small mercies,” Raidou muttered. “I can officially say that I miss the rain.”

Shikaku chuckled as they ran. “You can huh?”

“That and not being caked with mud and sweat...This summer’s going to be hot.”

“Yeah, looks like it. At least you didn’t have to go with your teammate to snow.”

Raidou canted a curious look towards Shikaku. “How is that a bad thing, other than having to deal with Anko?”

Shikaku smirked beneath his mask at the man’s reply. “She gets to be very cold and then return to very hot, I guarantee you she’s going to be sick.”

Raidou hummed at that, okay that sucked. “Heat’s not so bad.” Shikaku chuckled at the quick turn around to the other man’s stance on things. “Mud still sucks.”

“That I’ll agree too.” 

Heading home in the heat after getting covered in the mud of a very annoying earth jutsu had a way of souring one’s mood, but thankfully they were nearing home. Another few hours and they’d be able to climb into cool showers and rid themselves of the filth of their missions.

“So...Think we’ll beat the kids back?”

“They still have two days to their mission.” Shikaku reminded the younger man. “I know Kotetsu tries for early returns but I would hope he’s not stupid to push them in this heat.”

“True...That might not go over so well once they get back.”

Shikaku gave a small sigh. “You’d be in line to tell him how stupid he was, don’t even lie.”

Raidou chuckled. “You kidding? I’ll just stand by and watch, Himiko’s got that down pat when it comes to reeling them in.”

“I don’t know if I should approve of your outsourcing my wife to this.”

Raidou huffed. “She enjoys it and you know it. Besides, its a great stress relief.”

“Ah...Yes, harping on Chunin a great pass time.” Shikaku returned sarcastically. “The boys are smart, I’m sure that they’re keeping themselves well in hand under this heat. I’m going to be cranky if it comes down to lecturing them about being stupid after running all this way home.”

“Yeah, I’m with you there at least. Think Kakashi’s back from his mission?”

“He was due a day after we left, if he’s not back then he’s in some hospital trying to flee out a window.”

Raidou laughed. “You’re not wrong.”

“No, I am not.” Shikaku sighed. “He’s a hypocrite when it comes to that. How he reacts when Iruka or the boys are hurt and then goes about avoiding help for his own injuries.”

The other Anbu nodded his head, none of this was new to them. They’d been dealing with Kakashi for years before Iruka or the boys came into the picture. Things seemed to only progress as they aged. “You’d think that he would learn his lesson.”

Shikaku snorted. “Brain trauma or at least I would like to assume so, he’s just a stubborn brat.”

Raidou snickered at that. “I can’t tell you whether or not he’s suffered brain trauma but I do know he’s stubborn as hell.”

“So are you.” Came the quick-witted reply.

“And?” The Anbu called back with pride in his voice. “I have to be if I have to put up with Anko and Kakashi all the time. Not to mention those terror of Chunin’s we’ve laid claim to.”

Shikaku chuckled. “Ah, is that the reason. What’s your excuse for before?”

Raidou huffed, quickly going onto say. “I’m asking Himiko for dirt on you.”

Shikaku snorted. “Go for it, I doubt she will say anything other than that I’m a stubborn bastard like the rest of you.”

“See it’s no fun when you agree with me,” Raidou complained. “You take the fun out of things.”

“And I enjoy every minute of it.” Shikaku taunted the younger man. “I didn’t anticipate having children when I did, lord knows me and Himiko wanted to wait a bit longer and then you lot fell into our laps.”

Raidou chuckled. “Yeah...Well, it gave you plenty of experience for Shika didn’t it?”

“Sure, because raising pre-genin is the same as having a baby.” Shikaku countered in sarcasm. “Though I don’t recall having to deal with any diapers when raising a horde of pre-genin. Or two child-like Anbu.”

“I was grown thank you very much.” Raidou pointed out shrewdly. “And Kakashi’s a lost cause, he’ll never grow up. As for the boys...Well, they got into plenty of trouble, just like a two-year-old.”

“Uh-huh.”

Based on the lack of inflection in Shikaku’s response Raidou figured that he was still losing the argument. “At least we’re almost home, you can enjoy the chores of having a baby.”

“Yes, cause that’s what I’m looking forward to, not my wife and son.”

Raidou chuckled. “I’m sure Himiko’s ready to hand you your son and walk away.”

“The possibility is there,” Shikaku replied civilly. “But she’d still be happy to see me even if it was just to pass our son to me so she could go sleep.”

“Happy’s happy right?”

“Mmhmm.” No sooner than had Shikaku agreed then did he and Raidou both pause, steel on steel. Looking about two Anbu crouched where they were, hiding. “Direction?” Shikaku called quietly.

Raidou sighed, as he tried to figure that out, ultimately pointing to their right. “That way. We going to investigate?”

“It’s inside our borders.” Shikaku intoned as he took off.

“Right...Figures we’d get stuck with more work.”

Shikaku snorted as they ran, the sound of cracking trees just had them hastening their steps. “Seems like someone’s in a tizzy.” A loud boom had the earth tremoring. “Alright...Yeah, that warrants our attention.” Raidou added.

Shikaku hummed as they jumped forward into a dust cloud to see who might be on the other side of it, it was as they landed that their hearts climbed up their chests.

“Izumo now!”

The boys. 

A snapping sound preluded a giant crash of earth, a giant breeze was cast off of the earth crashing back into itself in a tidal wave of rocks and soil. 

“Son of a bitch!” They heard Kotetsu crow just as they caught sight of the teen, as he jumped backward onto a tree branch, he was panting and sweating heavily as he crouched. “I-”

“Quiet.” Kotetsu froze as a hand came around his mouth and a familiar voice reached his ear, he still twisted sharply paranoid only to see Hawk nod. Kotetsu swallowed and nodded back as the masked figure asked quietly. “How many?”

“Four...But one’s down.”

“Not dead?” The Anbu replied as he watched the haze of dust, he felt Kotetsu shake his head as his hand was still bracing the boy's chin. “Alright, then he’s not down.” The Anbu had different requirements for what canted for a downed opponent. 

Kotetsu shifted when someone landed on a neighboring branch just as a loud crack of a tree was heard. Raccoon was there, he glared back at the teen and pointed. “Where are they?”

Kotetsu shook his head. “Iruka was on the ground, Izumo was that way.” He pointed off into the dust. “We got separated but we-”

“We’re managing to work together all while revealing where you were,” Hawk muttered.

Kotetsu huffed. “We’re alive aren’t we?”

“Luckily.” The Anbu canted. A bright flash of light, fire rose up through the fog. 

“Oh...Yeah, there’s a guy who likes fire.” Kotetsu coughed in the dust.

Shikaku sighed, alright then. Time to round up the boys and take out the trash, he looked to Raidou. The younger Anbu nodded, pushing Kotetsu back against the tree he mimed a finger over his lips despite wearing a mask. Kotetsu nodded, watching as the Anbu slinked down to the base of the tree and into the dust cloud where he lost sight of him. Looking towards Raccoon he saw the man preparing to jump, Kotetsu stepped forward as if to jump back into the fray only for Raccoon to point sharply for him to stay. Kotetsu shook his head, he was a shinobi too and his friends were down there. Kotetsu glared at the Anbu and leaped down into the dust.

Damn it. Shikaku cursed in his head as he jumped down into the haze to cover Kotetsu, the stupid kid was going to get an earful after this. First, he had to make sure the kid stayed alive long enough to hear it. Kotetsu hadn’t stayed long where he’d jumped down, smart. Shikaku cut through the haze, sensing Raidou and then the others. Two shinobi were to his left and another straight ahead. The last was missing. Shikaku left that for later, with three valid threats right there the Anbu prepared to pick one to down. The Anbu’s eyes widened when one of the figure's shadow in the hazy fog of dust was yanked down as something came around their neck. The sound of tinkling chains had Shikaku smirking, good at least the boys were armed still. He heard the struggle as he ran forward, getting there just as Izumo came down from where ever he’d been perched. The boy jumped backward at the sight of him, only to glance from the downed shinobi who was still fighting to get out of the boys' chains and then back to the Anbu.

Shikaku knelt down, ignoring the boy's startlement in favor of ending the nin’s life. Standing he approached the scuffed up teen. Pulling him with him back away from the nin, away from any threat should one of the man's cohorts come looking. He whispered. “Where’s Iruka?”

Izumo shook his head. “I lost sight.” Izumo canted his head up. “Ko?”

“He’s out here, went back.” The growl in the man’s voice had Izumo nodding. “He’s looking for Iruka.”

“Why is he hurt?”

Izumo shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. He wasn’t moving.”

Shikaku froze. ‘Wasn’t moving.’ “Was he awake?”

Izumo nodded. “Yeah.”

If the boy was awake then there was time to fix whatever was wrong with him or so Shikaku hoped. The ground shook, Shikaku frowned, looking to Izumo. “I thought that was yours.”

Izumo huffed. “I don’t make this much mess.”

Shikaku smirked beneath his mask as the boy covered his mouth and nose with his hand as a new rush of dust filtered into the area. It stung their eyes but then again that was the point. Izumo stumbled back into Raccoon when a kunai came soaring by. The Anbu grabbed the boys jacket and pulled him sharply behind a tree. Izumo stumbled at first but caught his footing as they rounded the tree. The teen coughed, trying to silence himself despite the harsh dust infiltrating his lungs. 

Shikaku glared, not at Izumo but at the threats further into the fog of dust, they were trying to smoke the boys out by making them reveal themselves. The coughing was a clear indicator of where they were. Smart nin’s. Shikaku surprised Izumo by reaching down and ripping a round of the boys' shirt off when he was done he zipped up the boys Chunin jacket with a glare. Izumo knew better, the jackets had protective shields inside of them, part of the reason they were so damn heavy. With the round of cloth in hand, Shikaku snatched up the boy's canteen dumping the water into the cloth before hastily tying it around the boy's nose and mouth. Izumo pulled a face but nodded. Clearly understanding. Discarding the boy's empty canteen, Shikaku leaned forward and stated. “Go to that tree and cough.” Izumo nodded, darting under the underbrush and once he was safely shielded behind the tree did just that. Playing bait. 

Shikaku smirked as a shadow loomed up above the boy, the Anbu sprang forward startling the ninja and hastily throwing him down into the hard-packed earth below before following with his own weapon. The shinobi rolled away, bringing up his own blade to throw at the Anbu. Shikaku easily dodged the weapons, taking off after the shinobi as he tried to flee back into the dust cloud. Izumo stood before the man, kicking out and sending the man straight back into Shikaku’s path. The shinobi grunted from the blow of Shikaku’s kunai piercing his back but twisted away to try and save himself. Once more Izumo was there, his chains coming out to wrap around the man’s ankles and pulling them from underneath the man. Laying on the ground his legs useless, it was short work for Shikaku to end it. Izumo got his chains back and in short order muttered. “These guys are dicks.”

Snorting, Shikaku waved the boy to follow him, they needed to find Iruka and the others. More so Iruka seeing as no one had yet caught sight of the boy. 

********

Raidou had gone into the haze of dust, thankful for his mask which filtered the air. He’d be coughing up a storm if he was caught in this. And there was a cough, Raidou turned sharply prepared to lash out and end whoever it was coughing only to mutter a curse. He dragged Kotetsu down to the ground sharply avoiding a volley of shuriken, he glared at the teen who shrugged out of his hold. Shaking his head and already thinking up ten different things he wanted to yell at the boy, Raidou grabbed his bicep and ran. Kotetsu kept pace, tearing his arm free of Hawk’s grasp as they sought shelter behind a large rock.

“Kid I am going to kill you.”

Kotetsu coughed, his lungs angry at all the dust. “Cant if they do.”

“Smartass.” Raidou looked about, he knew the enemy would be coming for them, Kotetsu was giving their position away. Kotetsu coughed again, but quickly reached forward and grabbed Hawk, the pair stumbling away as the Anbu was startled by the boy's actions. The tree they’d been leaning against grew red before exploding. Kotetsu and Hawk were thrown from their feet the teen unable to get them farther away from it. falling to the ground, the pair grimaced, Hawk was on his feet in an instant prepared to levy his own attack. Nobody came. Crouching, Raidou reached back to tell Kotetsu to get out of the way knowing the boy was behind him. The Anbu tensed, and then sprung into action when he heard Kotetsu shout.

“Hawk!” The boy's voice was farther away and was preluded by coughing, this nin didn’t know his name which meant that the person behind him... Rolling away, Raidou glared at the figure who was smirking back at him wearing Kotetsu’s face his sword embedded in the earth where he’d just been crouched. Smart. 

“Didn’t know these brats had friends.”

“Yeah, well these brats are kinda important.” Raidou stood, watching as ‘Kotetsu’ shifted on his feet, prepared to take the fight to him. “Pretty gutsy taking on Anbu,” Raidou commented. “Missing nins I take it?”

The man smirked. “Nah, just hired help...Kids got in the way is all.”

Raidou nodded. “Sure-Sure. Happens.”

The man nodded, never dropping his disguise. “Sorry about this, but gotta do what I gotta do.”

Raidou snorted. “Yeah, you’re real hurt about it but you will be.” Raidou threw a series of shuriken, ducking down as the man dodged and then swung his sword forward to decapitate him. Stupid move, Raidou kicked, sending the man skidding backward. The man’s sword bit into the earth as he slid back, slicing the dirt and acting as a handhold for the man to brace himself. Ripping his sword free the assassin charged forward, only to crash his sword into the dirt with a smirk. The earth glowed right before it ripped apart a deep chasm tearing through the area, Raidou jumped into a nearby tree, riding out the chaos of the earth splitting in two, jumping to another as the first went crashing down into the chasm. The cracks in the earth didn’t stop, they rounded, splintering trees and carving deep grooves into the earth before spikes of solid packed dirt came shooting up. Well, shit. Raidou jumped as the tree he’d been in was torn apart by a spike, dropping into a roll he ran to avoid the others which seemed resolute in following him. Ducking behind trees and moving constantly to very up his path. To confuse the enemy trying to follow him with his earth shatter sword, Raidou halted as he came upon a stumbling figure, a coughing figure. Damn it. Hiding behind a tree, the Anbu called out.

“How’d you break your leg?”

The coughing stopped a moment. “W-What?”

“How’d you break your leg?”

The figure coughed, shifting behind Raidou in the open woods as the earth still shook. Raidou had to be sure. “How. Did. You. Break. Your. Leg?” He growled, his kunai ready as the stumbling figure coughed again. Raidou jumped back just as slim spikes of shadow came through the ground. A sharp yell followed a great crash, Raidou watched the trees part as they were pierced by the shadowy claws.

A cough. “It was an easy question.” Kotetsu coughed again. 

The Chunin met his gaze, Kotetu’s vest was bloody, Raidou grimaced at the sight of it but pushed forward. “How did you break your leg?”

Kotetsu coughed. “In a damn landslide cause, we don’t do things by halves.”

Raidou smirked beneath his mask, coming forward at long last he looked about for the missing-nin.

“He ran. I got him in the leg.” Kotetsu coughed again.

Nodding Raidou reached for the boy's vest only for Kotetsu to bat his hand away. “We got more important things...I’m not gonna die.”

Nodding even if he didn’t like the fact that they had to wait to check the boy over, Raidou found the trail of blood left behind by the assassin. “Let’s go.”

Kotetsu nodded, following behind the Anbu as they went in search of the fleeing man. As they ran, Raidou commented. “He’s eager to impersonate to get close.”

“Got it.”

“Only things I would absolutely know.”

Kotetsu snorted. “I got it, Hawk.”

Nodding the Anbu and Kotetsu sorted through the trees as they followed the bloody trail left behind. It ended abruptly and put them both on edge, looking into the trees, the pair found no trace of the man.

“Great...” Kotetsu coughed again. “So much for the blood trail.”

Raidou shook his head, he’d dealt with things like this before. Smart enemies who know who to staunch blood flow in a pinch. The man had most likely just stabbed something into the wound Kotetsu had caused. That hurt like a son of a bitch, but it stopped you from leaving a trail. Nudging Kotetsu, he drew the boy towards a grouping of trees, shielding them from the open spaces of the forest. 

“He’s nearby. He won’t go far now that he knows we’re following him.”

“He’ll want to regroup.” Kotetsu summarized. “He’s outnumbered with us.”

The pair grimaced as a deep shake of the earth preluded a great wash of earth, Kotetsu coughed hard as he tried in vain to shield his mouth and nose. Hawk glared as he watched the boy kneel over to try and breath, the man was growing desperate trying to choke the kids out. Too much dust and they’d be unable to breathe at all, easy target when you weren’t conscious. He and Shikaku had their masks, but the three boys were susceptible to the man’s plan. Pulling Kotetsu against the tree as the boy stumbled away as he coughed, Raidou held the teen to himself, prepared to flee with him if he had to make the call. Kotetsu was soundly giving away their position but he wasn’t of a mind to move on his own now that he was struggling to breathe. It would be far too easy for the assassin to strike out at the Chunin in particular when they made to run from an attack. 

Kotetsu’s coughing was growing worse, looking up towards the treetops, Raidou shook his hand and with a firm hand around the boys waist jumped. He pushed the breath out of Kotetsu by the hasty jump but the Anbu didn’t stop until they were above the cloud of dust. Out in the open but in the fresh air. Kotetsu fell onto the tree branch, coughing. Raidou knelt down, kunai in hand and ready to protect the downed teen.

“Easy kid, just breath.”

Kotetsu was coughing something fierce, his breaths raspy as his lungs tried to compensate for a long time shrouded in the dust.

Raidou wanted to know where Shikaku was if he’d found Izumo or Iruka. Both boys were still down there in the thick of this shit and they were no better off than Kotetsu, they might even be unconscious now. His hands clenched at that, the boys would be unable to defend themselves from the other ninja who were hunting for them. Making a snap decision, Raidou made a quick slice of his forearm, not bothering with removing his gloves. dipping a finger into it he went about the easy summons. A small falcon appearing, it tilted its head at him.

“Watch the kid, keep him safe.” 

The bird bobbed its head, as Kotetsu tilted his back with teary eyes. “Stay with the bird kid, he’ll tell you to move if you need to move. Otherwise, just breath.”

Kotetsu shook his head as he coughed. “I-I can-”

“You can stay right here or I’ll call my big summons to carry you all the way back to Konoha.” Hawk pointed savagely at the teen. “Now learn to breathe again, I’ll be back.” Nodding to his summons, Raidou fell back into the fray below.

Kotetsu tilted his head to the side, the small falcon stared back at him. Kotetsu coughed before rasping. “You’re not a hawk.”

The bird blinked back at him.

********

Izumo was on his knees, coughing as another wave of dust came over them. Shikaku gritted his teeth as he kept a hold of the boy's flak jacket. Thus far they hadn’t encountered anyone else but the boy’s coughing was loud and the threat of the boy being unable to breathe was real.

“Damn it.” Shikaku knelt down wrapping an arm around Izumo and putting the boy's arm over his shoulder, he stood Izumo slagging against him. Dragging the stumbling boy along with him, the Anbu looked around for any sign of where the dust barrier might end. He needed to get Izumo out and go search for Iruka, hopefully, Raidou will have caught up with Kotetsu. If not then he had one more Chunin to round up. For now, Shikaku focused on the one he had. Izumo’s feet were dragging as the boy wheezed, Shikaku pulled the boy along and as tempting as it was to go into the treetops where he knew there was air, it was far worse to be caught up there than on the ground. Shikaku was sure the barrier had to-Shikaku smiled as he pulled Izumo out into the open forest, the haze of dust and earthy contaminants free of the air. Shikaku dragged Izumo around a set of trees, kneeling he placed the boy down. Izumo sagged laying on his side as he coughed intermittently while his wheezing breaths rattled him. The face mask the Anbu had rigged up wasn’t able to help with this much dust, Shikaku pulled it free of the boys face in the hopes of making it easier for the boy to breathe. The Anbu patted the boy's shoulder, glaring back towards the dust barrier, he needed to go back. The kids could be worse off than Izumo and Izumo was barely conscious. The sharp cry of a falcon had Shikaku’s eyes widening, Raidou had used his summons? No sooner had this thought come about then did a small bird come souring down from the treetops. Landing on Shikaku’s arm as he held it out, the bird tilted its head at him before looking at the boy.

“We have the other.”

“Others? Or Other.”

“Other.” The bird nodded. “Kotetsu. Hawk went back in for the other, there’s been no sign of him.”

Gritting his teeth Shikaku looked back at Izumo, the boy had said that Iruka might be hurt. If he was then there was little chance of him getting out without help.

“There is still an enemy unaccounted for.” The bird chimed in. “Kotetsu and Hawk injured him but he staunched the blood flow and they lost him. I’ll watch over him, go and help.”

“Thank you.” Shikaku lowered his arm so the bird could hop down to stand beside Izumo. “Summon another if he gets worse, I’ll need to know.”

The bird nodded. “Go.”

Shikaku rose and ran back into the dust, the bird tilted its head at the wheezing boy. “You all cause too much trouble.”

**********

Raidou was searching for Iruka, on his way for the bastard that was still loose somewhere in the haze of dust. He knew there was the chance that there were two, just because Kotetsu had thought that the other was down didn’t make it true. Raidou just hoped that the boys had been right because two assassins made a great chance of one of them finding Iruka and the boy had to be in dire straights at this point. He’d sent another bird the second he got into the dust again, the idea that he was separated from Shikaku who might very well have the other boys didn’t sit well with him. So he’d sent the bird if it didn’t return he knew that it had found them. If it did...Then things were even more in the hole that was this rendezvous with the kids. 

Raidou wasn’t sure how long it took, it felt like eons before he stumbled upon Shikaku. The pair of Anbu having sensed each other’s diminished chakra signatures.

“The boy-”

“You found Kotetsu, I got Izumo.”

“Iruka.”

Nodding the men continued through the dust. “Did you get the other?”

“No, he’s here somewhere, responsible for this damned dust.”

“Figures,” Shikaku growled as he stalked through the dust cloud. “We need to get Iruka out of here, he’s gotta be unconscious by now and it’s only going to get worse the longer he’s in here.”

“We gotta find him first.”

That they both knew, they searched for ten minutes. On edge for an attack, though none came, looking for the boy's chakra signature, nothing gave them any clue on which direction to go. It was as if Iruka had hidden his chakra signature completely, which they both knew the boy wasn’t able to do. The thought that the boy's chakra signature might not be registerable because he was dead wasn’t even a consideration. They just had to find the boy. 

Twenty minutes, the haze continued and then...It began to fade.

“What the hell?” Raidou glanced about. “How-”

“Either he’s dead or he’s running,” Shikaku muttered as he continued forward as the haze began to lift. It was by far still hard to see, but the darkness the dust had enforced on everyone was getting lighter. It was because of this that the two men caught sight of something important.

“Shit!” Raidou shouted. Shikaku mirrored that sentiment as the men ran towards the sudden discovery. Iruka.

The Chunin was folded over, his hands braced on the ground as he crouched on his knees. The teen was sweaty and pale, but both men knew it wasn’t from the heat. The teen was holding two barriers, one where a man was fighting against it the other where a man was weakly trying to stop the progressive bleeding of a wound all while kicking at the barrier that held him.

“Iruka drop it!” Shikaku called as he and Hawk had weapons in hand. 

Iruka twisted his head, staring at them in surprise.

“Drop it!” Raidou shouted as they came upon the boy.

Iruka let go, the barriers fell as did the teen. Panting from exertion Iruka didn’t even make a face as he watched the Anbu kill the two men who didn’t even get a chance to offer up a fight. Iruka groaned as he tried to recoup from the strain of holding two barriers, the teen shifted when someone laid a hand on him.

“Hey kid, open your eyes.”

Iruka grit his teeth as he did as asked, the concerned eyes of Raccoon greeted him. Iruka licked his lips before stating. “T-That sucked.” Iruka coughed a few times, hacking really but he managed to stop afterward.

Chuckling Shikaku nodded as the boy coughed, how Iruka was conscious was beyond him. “How were you breathing in this shit?”

Iruka sighed as he raised a hand tiredly, showing off three.

“Three barriers.” Raidou rasped. “You protected yourself from the dust.”

Iruka hummed as his hand fell back to the earth tiredly, the Chunin managing to get out. “Ko-”

“They’re both safe.” The fact that both were hacking up their lungs need not be said, Shikaku would let the kid figure that out for himself when they caught up with the pair. “Let’s get you up.” Shikaku reached out and helped Iruka turn on his back before sitting the boy up.

Iruka coughed, his body shivered a moment before he managed to stop it.

“You gonna go kid?” Raidou questioned worriedly. It would be all too easy for Iruka to collapse from having kept up the three barriers.

Iruka shook his head. “N-No. I’m good.”

Hawk snorted. “Good my ass.”

Iruka smiled weakly at the Anbu as sweat slid down his face. “Language.”

Hawk pulled the kid forward ruffling his hair. “Cute, let’s go smartass.” He and Shikaku got Iruka to his feet, the boy stumbled a bit but the two Anbu easily kept him afoot.

“You steady?”

Iruka nodded, though he didn’t feel all that steady himself. 

Raidou sent a look to Shikaku, he didn’t believe the kid was going to stay up on his own. Iruka hadn’t held three barriers before, not to his knowledge. Two was a stretch as it was, especially with the one bastard fighting against it as he had been. Shikaku nodded, watching keenly as the man threw Iruka’s arm over his own shoulder and prepared to help the teen. Iruka jumped a bit surprised by the sudden aid, he was prepared to argue or would on any other occasion but he was tired so he just nodded his thanks and followed along. 

Shikaku stayed behind them, prepared to help Raidou if Iruka truly went down. The teen stubbornly stayed on his feet as they made their way back towards where Shikaku had left Izumo, upon arriving at the teen who was still laying on his side coughing. Raidou settled Iruka on the ground before giving a nod to Shikaku, heading back to where he’d left Kotetsu.

Shikaku sighed as he knelt down to take a look at the boys, Izumo was red-faced and sweaty though it was hard to tell if that was from the heat or from the strain of not being able to breathe properly. A glance towards Iruka found a pale teen plagued by exhaustion, the boy appeared to be dazed, not surprising given what he’d just pulled. Shaking his head Shikaku muttered. “We need to talk about your communication skills in battle.”

Izumo was too out of it to care, Iruka, however, turned to stare at the Anbu a moment. Blinked and then stated. “What?”

Raccoon chuckled. “Your communication skills, you three were yelling at each other throughout a battle giving yourselves away in the process.”

Iruka nodded his head a bit, confused a moment before he muttered. “I didn’t say anything.” As if it bothered him to get lectured about something like that.

Shikaku shook his head, reaching out to pat the boy's shoulder. “We’ll talk about it later, just take it easy for now. That was a lot for you.”

Iruka nodded his head, it had been, his head felt foggy and it was all too pleasant of an idea to lay down. Iruka didn’t but it was close, rather he chose to reply. “I managed.”

“You did.” The Anbu agreed. “But you were fading fast kid, still look like your half dead.”

“I’m not.”

Shikaku chuckled as the tired boy spoke plainly, too out of it to note the sarcasm. “Right, that’s a good thing.”

Iruka hummed as his head shifted to stare at Izumo, his friend was coughing but he appeared to be breathing better than when they first arrived. That was good, Iruka looked back at Raccoon. “How’d you find us?”

“Me and Hawk were on our way back from our own mission, those rejects’ earth jutsu caught our attention.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Raccoon returned. “Don’t worry too much about it, we’re all alive and that’s what matters.” He turned sharply when he sensed someone only to sigh when it was Raidou with Kotetsu the boy seemed to be in better condition than his friends. As soon as Raidou let him go he didn’t collapse, he knelt down and smiled at Iruka. “You okay?”

Iruka nodded his head, not replying in words. Kotetsu frowned at him a moment before looking towards Izumo. “I think he’s going to get his wish.” Kotetsu coughed a bit. “I don’t think we’re going to make it home tonight.”

Raidou snorted. “Doesn’t really look like it, none of you are fit for travel.”

Iruka canted his head up to the Anbu. “I can move.”

“Doesn’t mean you should.” Hawk countered with a solid look to the boy. “You’re dead on your feet kid, you all are. We can catch our breaths tonight and head home tomorrow.”

Iruka hummed at that, looking towards Izumo and then Kotetsu. The team leader nodded. “Yeah, sounds good to me.” He coughed once with a smile. 

Iruka didn’t bother to argue, he didn’t feel must like doing anything at this point. Maybe sleeping if he didn’t have to run home that is. Raccoon got everyone’s attention, well everyone but Izumo that is.

“Let’s pack it in, we need to get some distance, we might be on home terrain but I don’t want to linger near a battle site.”

“Agreed.” Hawk mirrored. He waved to Kotetsu, the boy got to his feet, showing clearly that he was able to manage. Nodding, Hawk offered a hand to Iruka. The boy stared at it a moment before his brain kicked into gear and he accepted the help. Raidou kept the kid in tightly by him, throwing the boys arm over his shoulder to wait as Shikaku and Kotetsu got Izumo situated on the Anbu’s back. Settled, Shikaku looked everyone over before nodding.

“Let’s go.”

***********

The night wasn’t all that enjoyable, what with the heat, exhaustion and over half of the camp's occupants coughing. There wasn’t a lot of rest to be had as the boys' lungs cleared themselves of all the dust they’d been forced to breathe in. Come morning, everyone was tired, sweaty, covered in dust and filth, and eager to go home.

Iruka was far more stable on his feet than he had been due to his expenditure of chakra the day before but he was exhausted, and although Izumo was coughing up a storm and sounding like he’d smoked his whole life he too was mobile. Kotetsu had even offered to carry Izumo if he needed help, but the other man had shaken his head. Now in the early morning when the temperature hadn’t yet reached its turning point into the summer heat, the group headed for home. 

It took three hours, a lot of coughing, and a group of tired, cranky people but they finally made it home. Everyone sighed in relief at the sight of the grand gate of the Konoha.

“Alright boys, let’s go check-in.”

“Hmm? We haven’t written a report.” Iruka muttered tiredly, he wanted to sleep a week after yesterday.

“You’ll get to do that later, we gotta tell the Hokage what happened, having groups of assassins running through our territory and taking on our people isn’t good.”

“Go figure.” Izumo coughed.

The Anbu chuckled at the dour Chunin’s reply. “Let’s go.” Raccoon waved the boys forward, the trek to the Hokage’s tower was slow going none of them in an overall rush now that they were safely tucked within the walls of their village. 

Upon arriving, the group came to stand outside the Hokage’s office an Anbu with a lizard mask stared at the Chunin a moment before meeting Shikaku and Raidou’s gaze. “What happened to you lot?”

“Assassins.” Izumo croaked.

The Anbu nodded accepting the answer from the Chunin, he looked over the Chunin a moment before snorting at something. Meeting Shikaku’s gaze the lizard Anbu muttered. “Good luck with that.”

“With what?” Shikaku scowled. “We’ve dealt with intruding groups before.”

The lizard masked Anbu shook his head. “Wolf’s on duty.”

“Shit.” “Crap.” Damn it.”

The Anbu laughed at the Chunin’s retorts, everyone knew about these boys. Seeing them brought in with two of the Anbu who were always with them was amusing enough. Knowing that the other was behind that door unaware was the icing on the cake.

Shikaku shook his head even as Raidou called the boys out for the language. “Just let me do the talking.”

Lizard snorted, Shikaku glared at the man until he shrugged and looked away. When two people came out of the office, drifting passed the strange group of shinobi did the lizard masked Anbu wave his hand beckoning them forward. “Good luck.”

Shikaku pushed the boys forward, he knew how they all looked. Roughed up around the edges, caked with dirt and sweat. Kotetsu’s vest had blood on it from a cut he’d gotten from a close encounter with the blade of an assassin. It was in dire need of cleaning after so long in the dirt and grime, the small patch job they’d done out in the woods wasn’t going to cut it. Izumo needed to have his lungs looked at as he was still coughing like he’d smoked his whole life and Iruka was suffering from Chakra exhaustion. Yeah, they looked great Shikaku muttered to himself. 

Coming inside, Shikaku took a breath and stated. “Hokage-Sama, I thought it prevalent to report to you, we came across the boys on our way back, they were in a fight with some nins.”

The Hokage raised a brow at the professionalism that Shikaku was issuing. Smirking the Hokage looked at the teens. “All is well?”

“Izumo needs his lungs checked, Kotetsu has a cut and Iruka’s got chakra exhaustion. Various scrapes and bruises sir.” Hawk filed simply only to wince when Wolf appeared. Yep, he’d been watching.

The Hokage smiled as he watched Wolf glance from him to the boys, taking a step forward. “It was an errand mission how in the hell did you guys screw that up?”

“Hey!” Izumo started coughing, from his loud pronouncement. Raidou sighed and patted the boys back, glaring at Kakashi for setting the kid off. 

“ Wasn’t their fault, the boys held their own.”

Kakashi tensed, looking the boys over. Izumo was still coughing from some unknown source, Kotetsu’s vest was bloody and Iruka looked about ready to fall over. “What happened?” Kakashi questioned forgetting once again that they were in the Hokage’s office and he should be the one asking questions.

“We cam-”

“We kicked some assassins asses.” Izumo smiled after having recovered from his coughing fit, his voice was strained but he was quite proud of himself.

Kotetsu and Iruka groaned tiredly, Raidou sighed giving a look towards Shikaku. So much for letting him talk.

“You did what?!”

Yep. This wasn’t going to go over all that well.

“They’re fine,” Shikaku replied passively. “They need to get checked out, get some food and then some rest.” The man looked to the Hokage. “The group was some band of assassins passing through I would assume that they acted as they did for fear of their target learning of their path. Regardless they attacked the boys and stirred up enough trouble to get our attention.”

“We were doing fine,” Izumo muttered.

Kotetsu and Iruka stared back at their friend a moment, Iruka ultimately muttering. “You passed out.” Kotetsu nodded before jerking his thumb towards Iruka. “And he couldn’t see straight until this morning.” Iruka pouted. “Yeah well, you need stitches.”

Kakashi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he listened to the boys rat each other out. He really tried. “Okay...Okay.” He looked to the Hokage only to find the man amused, he waved a hand in dismissal. 

“Go and tend to the boys, I want a full report Raccoon.”

“Of course sir.”

Iruka sighed as Wolf walked forward and stared him down. “Can this wait until I’m not a zombie?”

Wolf snorted at the boy's plea. “No, but let’s go get you boys checked out.” Looking to his comrades he pointed at Iruka. “I call dibs.”

Iruka huffed even as Raidou placed a hand on Izumo and Shikaku placed a hand on Kotetsu. The boys all sighed, this wasn’t the first time this had happened. The groups disappeared to their own destinations and own motivations on treating the boys' wounds.

The Hokage smirked as he sat back in his chair, life was never dull with those boys around.

*********

Shikaku watched over as Kotetsu’s chest was tended to by the med nin, they’d had to thoroughly clean it out and by the hisses and grunts, Kotetsu had given it stung. He’d braced the boy's shoulders, a simple gesture of being there with him though he couldn’t do much more than that. Ten neat stitches and the wound was bandaged. Kotetsu lay on the bed, waiting for the med nin to return with the slip he had to sign about injuries on missions, he tilted his head towards Raccoon.

“Do we get overtime for this?”

Raccoon chuckled. “No.”

“That sucks.” Kotetsu tilted his head back to stare up at the ceiling. “I’m glad you guys found us.”

Shikaku was surprised to hear that, he had half expected all the boys to rally around them being able to take care of themselves. “Oh?”

Kotetsu hummed. “I lost sight of them...Iruka first, me and Izumo stuck together because of his chains but even then-”

“You managed as best you could Kotetsu, you three have a lot still to learn about how to relocate your team...And how not to shout to each other across an active battle.”

Kotetsu winced at that, in the heat of the moment he’d just been so desperate not to lose sight of his friend. He’d known what Izumo intended to do when he did his earth jutsu, it just happened to make the whole dust thing worse at the same time as it helped get rid of one of the men. 

“I don’t know if we would have made it,” Kotetsu replied softly. “Not all of us.”

Raccoon nodded, accepting the boy's words. “It takes a lot to be able to acknowledge that Kotetsu. As a team leader, you’re responsible for your team and everyone in it, their health and the sanctity of the mission itself.”

Kotetsu grimaced, closing his eyes. He’d failed at that.

“The fact that you can say you screwed up even if it wasn’t completely your fault, that’s a good thing. You’re still learning Kotetsu and yes, this might have ended poorly if me and Hawk hadn’t of found you. But we don’t need to think about that, there will always be close calls, what’s important is that you learn from them. Train for if you’re separated, train for if someone is downed. You didn’t know if Iruka was able to defend himself if he was hurt or worse.” Shikaku’s voice shifted then, but he pushed through it. “You were scared, frantic to keep Izumo with you and that made the task of surviving harder because you weren’t prepared to have him be somewhere else than right at your side.”

“I know.”

“You can work on this, we can help you train for that. Lord knows that Wolf would love the chance to chase you lot in the woods and make your lives hell after today.”

Kotetsu groaned, his arm coming up to lay over his face as Raccoon laughed at him. “Don’t let Wolf do it.”

“Why not? He’s good at hunting people.”

Kotetsu waved his other hand in the Anbu’s direction. “He also does mean things when he catches us.”

“Seems effective to me.”

Kotetsu huffed. “I think we’ve suffered enough.”

“You don’t know what suffering is kid, but how about you sign that piece of paper and we get you home?”

Kotetsu let his arm slide off of his face to see a very amused nurse holding a piece of paper and a pen. Sighing Kotetsu signed it, nodded his thanks to the nurse as they left before glaring at Raccoon. “That was mean.”

The Anbu chuckled as he came over and patted the man’s shoulder. “No, mean would be telling my wife that you took on assassins after I told you to stay put.”

Kotetsu swallowed, yeah that sounded really really mean. “Umm...”

Shikaku patted the boy's shoulder once more. “So now that you’re wounds been taken care of let’s go see what she has to say about that huh? Think of this as my end of the punishment for disobeying a superior officers orders.”

“Wait! NO-”

They disappeared in a puff of smoke before Kotetsu could even think of escaping the Anbu.

*********

Izumo coughed, the oxygen mask that was covering his face steamed up when he did so. Hawk shook his head as they waited for the doctor to come back, they’d wanted to monitor Izumo after they checked his lungs. The kid got a good amount of crap in there and they said it could take a bit for it to clear out. Best to do an Oxygen therapy and monitor him for a bit before sending him home to rest.

“So...Now that it’s just the two of us. Want to explain why you thought it was a good idea to out everyone in front of Wolf?”

Izumo huffed, his voice was muffled by the mask. “I was making a point.”

“The point that you’re stupid and have no self-preservation skills to speak of? That point?” Hawk traded with a tilt of his head.

Izumo glared. “I have self-preservation skills Hawk.”

“Mmhmm...Do those entail pissing off Anbu?”

Izumo snorted from behind the mask. “That’s a life long ability.”

Hawk chuckled at the boy's sass. “Cute, so you ran into Raccoon out in the woods huh?”

The boy nodded. “I chained up a dudes ankles for him. The nin was not happy about that, but then again getting a kunai to the back and then one to the front kinda sucks...Then you are kinda dead.”

“Just kinda.” Hawk shook his head.

“Then the dust hit.”

“Yeah...Seems like everybody got hit with that, gotta say I’m thankful for my mask.”

Izumo nodded his head. “Iruka was smart, using his barriers.”

“Smart and stupid all at the same time.” The Anbu mused when the boy frowned. “He’s got chakra depletion Izumo, he saved his lungs from the worst of the dust but he was nearly down and out in a worse way. He’s gonna be exhausted for a bit.”

“Better than dead.”

Okay. the kid had a point there. Sighing, Raidou muttered. “Maybe next time you guys get caught by a group of not friendly ninja you could possibly not scream at each other and work as a team?”

Izumo shrugged as if he wasn’t sure if that was possible, Raidou huffed. “Alright, how about we’re going to do drills until you can do that.”

Izumo pulled a face. “I hate drills.”

“Yeah well, I hate having a heart attack every time you lot get into shit that you’re not supposed to get into!” Hawk waved a hand at the boy.

“We didn’t do this.” The boy reminded the Anbu.

Hawk groaned, reaching up to rub where his forehead would be. “I know...I know that Izumo, but there was so much you could have done differently. That’s why we’re doing drills.” He met the kid's gaze. “Cause you might not be lucky enough to have me and Raccoon in the area next time.”

Izumo nodded his head. “Yeah.” He coughed a bit. “Probably too much to ask to have Anbu with us.”

Hawk snorted. “You’re mission aren’t high enough to warrant and Anbu.”

“This one did.”

Raidou shook his head clearly pointing out. “No, your mission was normal, it was coming home that went awry. That doesn’t count.”

The boy made a disgruntled face at that. “Does that mean we get hazard pay?”

The Anbu sighed. “There’s no such thing as hazard pay Izumo, you’re a shinobi everything is a hazard to us.”

“Including you?” The boy asked.

“Especially me.” Hawk folded his arms across his chest. “Because when you can breathe again I’m going to run you so far into the ground that you won’t see daylight for a month.

Izumo coughed an extremely fake cough.

Raidou smirked beneath his mask. “Nice.”

Izumo smiled.

*********

Iruka gave a small cough as he was situated on his couch. “What no hospital?”

Wolf glared even as he stalked into the kitchen, leaving the boy by himself. Iruka smirked tiredly as he threw his legs up onto the couch and laid lengthwise, it was all too easy for his eyes to close.

“Hey, wake up.” 

Iruka groaned as he was jostled, his eyes snapping open only for him to jerk backward, then sigh. “You do not know how alarming that is after the day I had yesterday.”

Wolf snorted as he handed a cup of tea to the kid. “Why did you run into this person in particular?” He waved a hand at the person he was imitating.

Iruka shook his head. “No...Dude had a nasty beard.”

Wolf chuckled as he watched Iruka take a long pull of his tea, the boy looked drawn out. Pale, yep definitely chakra depletion. “So, what did you do that made you like this?” He waved a hand at the exhausted youth.

Iruka set the tea down on the coffee table before righting himself, he shifted his feet a silent invitation for the Anbu to take a seat. Iruka huffed when the man moved his tea and sat on the coffee table so as to be closer to him. Iruka stretched back out, might as well.

“Iruka?”

“Hmm...Barriers, trapped someone.”

Wolf nodded. “Alright, and?” Iruka shrugged. “No...See, I know for a fact that you can barrier someone with little to no effort and yeah it takes it out of you if you hold it too long but...I’m guessing that battle wasn’t eight hours or so I hope.”

Iruka chuckled tiredly. “No, not eight hours but it felt like it. We downed one, but he wasn’t dead and I trapped him so he couldn’t do his jutsu that had separated us to begin with. I was stuck there, holding him and the others...Well, they went out fighting. I lost track of them early on, so I stayed with the guy I had.”

“You were a sitting duck like that Iruka,” Kakashi growled.

The boy nodded. “I know.”

“And?!” The Anbu shouted. “You can’t just sit somewhere and hope that no one comes to kill you, that’s incredibly-”

“It worked.”

Kakashi blinked a few times in confusion. “I’m sorry what?”

“One of the nins went for me, that’s how Izumo got them, drove them off...I stayed put and waited. I couldn’t let the guy go, Wolf, he was too strong for us to down again.”

Wolf sighed. “Alright. So what happened?”

Iruka shrugged. “I wasn’t a part of the fights, not at least when Hawk and Raccoon came in. One of the other guys came upon me after he made the dust storm worse-”

“Dust storm?”

Right. Had kinda skipped over that. “We were in a dust cloud barrier thing...Didn’t know where it ended we got stuck. He kept making it worse and we lost sight of each other, it was hard to breathe and I knew it was gonna get worse so I put up a barrier.”

“Around the downed guy.” Kakashi nodded.

“Well...Yeah, and myself.”

“You barriered yourself in with the asshole who tried to kill you?” The flat tone of voice the Anbu had made Iruka smile.

“I’m not stupid Wolf, he was in a separate barrier.”

Wolf blinked. Blinked again and then... “So you held two barriers all throughout the fighting?”

Iruka nodded. “Yes.”

Kakashi let out a slow breath, that was a lot of chakra for Iruka to- “And then I did another to trap the last guy when he came barreling through. I think he was running from Hawk.” Iruka shook his head. “Anyways, I trapped him and then I just sorta waited. It didn’t take that long for Hawk and Raccoon to find me.” Iruka smiled.

“You held three barriers at one time,” Kakashi asked plainly.

“Yes.”

“And you're conscious.” 

Iruka frowned at the man's incriminating words as if that was a bad thing that Iruka hadn’t collapsed. “Umm...Yeah?”

Kakashi wiped a hand down his face, groaning. “Kid you’re lucky you’re not in a coma.”

“Felt like one last night.”

Kakashi gave a bark of laughter at that. “I bet.” Staring at the pale figure a moment the Anbu replied. “I’m glad you’re okay, but we need to talk about the whole barriers for everyone thing.”

Iruka chuckled tiredly. “Hey, it was only three.”

“You’ve hardly done more than one at any given time, you’ve been training with two for months Iruka,” Wolf stated firmly. “And then all of a sudden your forced to do three?”

Iruka hummed as he adjusted his head on the couch, closing his eyes. “Was pretty cool to see him flip out though.”

“Iruka.” Wolf’s long drawn out uttering of his name had the Chunin chuckling.

“Hey, I’m alive.”

“That should not be the benchmark here,” Wolf growled. “The benchmark should be that you didn’t do something incredibly stupid all in a last-ditch effort to outlast another person's chakra supply.”

Iruka hummed.

“Are you listening to me or are you falling asleep?” Kakashi had to ask, the boy did look tired and after three barriers it was a wonder he had been on his feet at all.

“M’listen.”

“Uh-huh, real reliable there,” Kakashi muttered before he leaned forward and shook the boy's shoulder getting a small noise of complaint. “Come on, the least you should do is move to bed before you go under.”

“M’not going under.” Iruka tiredly muttered even as Wolf prodded him into getting up. The short trek to his room was filled with the sarcastic musing of an Anbu. Iruka tuned Wolf out until they got to his bedroom. Iruka pulled to a stop, Wolf having to halt with him since he was allowing Iruka to lean against him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m dirty.” Iruka looked down at himself, he looked like he rolled in dirt for days.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, pushing the boy forward. “And we have a wonderful invention called a washing machine. Get in bed.”

Iruka huffed as he got out of his dirty clothes, accepting the clean pants that Wolf handed him. Climbing into bed with a groan was proceeded with the Anbu shoving him over to sit next to him. Iruka gave a small huff of amusement even as he shifted to get comfortable. Iruka sighed when the man’s fingers carded through his hair.

“You’re giving me grey hair,” Kakashi smirked to himself.

“Mmm...You got black right now, so I say it’s a lie.”

Kakashi chuckled at the boys taunting of his current illusion. “Well, that’ll go grey too.”

Iruka wrapped an arm around the man’s waist. “That’s okay.”

“Oh it is, is it?”

Iruka hummed. “If you’re getting grey hair then I’m doing something right.”

“I think we need to talk about the fact that you think giving me grey hair is a goal here.” Kakashi poked the boy in the shoulder. Iruka grunted at the sharp gesture. “And not the whole not getting into trouble while on missions.”

“Was a good mission until then.”

“Glad to hear it, you still almost got murdered by people so I don’t think we can call this a win.”

“Even if it was almost and not did?”

Kakashi sighed. “Wow, you’re a brat when you’re tired. How did I forget this?”

“It’s the grey hairs.” Iruka smiled as he shifted in his bed.

Kakashi glared down at the teen. “Smartass. Get some sleep alright?” Kakashi kicked up his legs and leaned against the headboard as Iruka hummed and fell still. He’d read the kid the riot act when he was prepared to actually remember it. Until then, Kakashi trailed his fingers through Iruka’s hair and relished the ability to be this close with the Chunin.

***********

“And go!” Hawk shouted with no short amount of amusement as the teens went racing into a partition of Shikaku’s forest. They had two minutes to group together and try and figure out a plan of action as Kakashi was waiting somewhere in the woods for them. 

“Think they’ll do better than last time?” Himiko questioned even as she bounced Shikamaru on her knees. The boy was giggling at Himiko’s actions while the kunoichi watched the boys dart into the woods.

Hawk shrugged his shoulders. “I’m pretty sure they can’t do worse. Raccoon slammed Kotetsu to the ground so hard I thought his teeth were going to break.” The noise Himiko made had Raidou stilling, right wrong person to gloat to. Twisting about the man waved a hand at her. “Wolf won’t hurt them you know that. That’s the whole point of the little darts.” Raidou held up one of the darts that he still had in his own possession from when it had been his turn to play seeker. They stung when they hit you, but it wouldn’t do anything bad to them other than smart a little.

“Mmmhmm.” Himiko sent a glower his way. Her husband was playing judge this round as they kept mixing and matching to give the boys no shortage of new challenges. They’d been at it almost all day now and the boys were sure to be tiring. Not that the Anbu particularly cared, not after the last scare at least. Better to drive them into the ground at home than lose them outside the gates of Konoha. 

The ground vibrated, Raidou chuckled. “Izumo found a target.”

Himiko laughed. “He is rather fond of that jutsu isn’t he?”

Shaking his head the Anbu replied. “Hope you didn’t want that patch of land to stay level cause it just got uprooted.”

Himiko shook her head. “No, we already decided it was best to rip it all apart before we convert the space into barns.”

“Ah so really the boys are doing demo for you.” Raidou teased.

“Basically.” Himiko winked. “But they’re also learning an important lesson.”

“Theoretically.”

Shikamaru giggled as the earth shook again, Raidou snorted. “Yeah it’s a real riot isn’t it Shika?”

Himiko smiled as the Anbu talked with her son, the man twisted about when he heard a whistle. “And time.” The Anbu bounced on his feet, eager to hear how things went this time. 

They saw Kotetsu first, the boy had a bloody nose and what looked to be the start of a really good black eye. He was haggard-looking as he walked out of the woods with a glower sent towards Hawk.

“I take it you failed again.” The Anbu replied non-repulsed by the Chunin’s ire.

Huffing Kotetsu made his way and flopped onto the grass a few feet from Himiko, the woman smiled down at the boy but Kotetsu had his eyes closed.

Izumo came limping out of the woods, a furrowed brow to show for his efforts. He glared at Hawk, sending a sharp finger his way. “Shut up.”

The Anbu tilted his head. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking it,” Izumo muttered as he walked towards Kotetsu and fell into the cool grass.

Raidou hummed, alright the kid hadn’t been wrong there but still he would have rather had the joy of saying something. Looking back into the woods he saw no sign of Iruka, Kakashi, or Shikaku.

“Where’s the other one?”

“He’s in a stalemate,” Kotetsu called in a gruff voice.

“Stalemate for what?”

“Freedom,” Izumo answered.

Raidou shook his head, the boys weren’t making much sense but given their poor moods that wasn’t so surprising. Their general assuredness that they would pass at the beginning of the day was waning faster and faster with each round, now towards the end of the day, it was all but gone. The boys were improving there was no doubt about that, but they had a long way to go before the Anbu would give them a passing grade. Raidou shrugged as he came over to sit in the grass near the boys, they both opened their eyes to glare at him, Raidou tilted his head in a questioning manner. The boy's eyes closed, nodding Raidou turned to look at Himiko she was smirking even as she played with Shikamaru. Raidou held out his hands, and with little preamble, Himiko handed the boy over. Raidou bounced him a bit before leaning over and placing him on Kotetsu’s chest. The Chunin startled but quickly supported the boy, scowling back at Hawk. “Wha-”

“He always puts you in a good mood, so stop glaring and play with him.”

Kotetsu huffed only to smile when Shikamaru tried to stick his fingers in his mouth. Pulling the boys' fingers away, Kotetsu informed the boy. “I don’t know what you think you’ll find when you do that.”

Izumo snorted. “Gold...Or a teething ring.”

Kotetsu chuckled as he bounced Shikamaru on his chest and waved his hands around making the boy giggle.

Raidou gave a nod when Kotetsu was once more enamored with Shikamaru, he knew it was only a matter of time before Izumo gave in and started playing with the boy as well. Until then, Raidou shifted his attention towards the woods. There was no sign of anyone else, Raidou rolled to his feet as he prepared to venture into the woods and find out what the delay was. That was until he heard a loud holler followed by laughter, oh, okay then. Sitting back down the Anbu watched on as Shikaku appeared first shaking his head. 

Shikaku saw his wife giving him a curious look, but when he didn’t see his son in her lap he gazed about. Ah. He smiled beneath his mask as he watched Kotetsu play with the boy, at least he appeared to be in better spirits now. Coming forward he was a little surprised when Raidou said.

“You’re welcome.”

“Hmm?”

Raidou waved a hand towards Kotetsu and now Izumo who was poking Shikamaru in the belly to make him laugh.

“That’s great, what are you going to do for the last one? Only so much baby to go around.” Shikaku teased. “And trust me, he’s going to need something to perk up his mood.”

Raidou tilted his head. “What’d Wolf do to him?”

The man chuckled as he came forward to pat Raidou on the shoulder. “Wolf didn’t appreciate the kid holding out on taking his licks.”

“Oh?”

Shikaku nodded to his comrade. “Kid chose to do a barrier to try and wait out his irritation at the kid screwing up.”

Raidou snorted. “Cause that’s a sound plan.”

“Mmhmm...Needless to say, Wolf didn’t find fault in reminding him that he was dealing with an Anbu and sooner or later he’d run out of chakra. Wolf was prepared to wait, the kid gave up and Wolf retaliated.”

“With?”

“Woah...”

The two men turned to see Izumo staring wide-eyed back into the woods, they followed his gaze. Shikaku chuckled as he patted Raidou’s shoulder. “Told you.”

Iruka was walking sullenly beside Wolf, the teen was drenched, giant streams of water trailing off of him and his soaked clothing.

“Wow, what did you do?” Hawk laughed at the kid's pathetic form, shaking his head as he stepped forward to tilt his head at him. “I don’t think you were prepared for that were you?”

“Bite me.” Iruka shoved past the man, shaking his head a bit to get some of the water out of his eyes.

Raidou snickered, meeting Kakashi’s gaze. “Taught him a lesson didn’t you.”

The man nodded his head, not in the least bit apologetic about dousing the kid in water after the stunt he’d tried to pull. Moving forward he came to stand in front of the boys, Iruka having fallen into the grass to sulk beside his friends. 

“So...Communication still isn’t your thing.”

The boys huffed even as Kotetsu bounced Shikamaru on his lap, not allowing the boy to get upset by the lack of bouncing while he was getting called out by an Anbu.

“This really shouldn’t be all that hard boys.” Wolf intoned with little more than boredom. “You talk without words all the time when you’re ignoring us.” He waved a hand to all of the adults. “Doesn’t seem to slow you down then.”

“We’re not trying to survive a battle then.” Iruka spat.

Izumo nodded. “Bit different when your avoiding kunai.”

Kotetsu sighed as his friends lashed out, he felt the same but they truly weren’t getting anywhere. “Are we done?”

“For now.” Raccoon chimed in. “Start over tomorrow.”

The boys gave disgruntled noises, Kotetsu getting to his feet to carry Shikamaru back to Himiko. Having given the baby over to his mother, Kotetsu called out to his friends. “Can’t wait for that.” And then he was gone.

Izumo huffed. “Ditto.” Gone.

Iruka snorted, he glared at Wolf when the man came forward and leaned in close. “You do that again tomorrow and I’ll get more inventive. Go home and dry off.”

Iruka didn’t say a word before disappearing in a puff of smoke before the man’s eyes. Sighing, shaking his head Kakashi twisted and shrugged. “I think that went well.”

Shikaku and Raidou sighed, Himiko shook her head.

*******

Two days of intense training in communication and the boys were prepared to murder their Anbu counterparts just to have a respite from the torment of it all. The Anbu were far too amused to allow such a thing, constantly pushing the boys to be better. Communication could very well save their lives if the previous incident was anything to go by. They weren’t about to let the boys get off easy just because the boys complained.

Funny enough, the boys felt that putting in a little more practice after being dismissed each day was worth it if only so they could get one up on the Anbu the following day. It took time, but by the end of the week, the boys had a system of their own. Shame that the Anbu fell for them failing the first match of the day on purpose, might have saved them some grief afterward.

Iruka ducked down behind a tree, prepared to flee if he needed to. He knew that the Anbu were somewhere in the woods tailing them. Hawk and split them up, part of the plan after all. How were they supposed to practice communication if they were next to each other? Iruka didn’t fret about his friends being out of his range of sight, he had a part to play. Iruka stayed low, ensuring that his chakra was as masked as he could make it as he traversed the forest floor. Keeping himself at a distance to where he heard the noise, someone was engaging in a battle or at least it sounded that way. The tinny sound of metal on metal was a good indication that one of his friends was battling it out with the Anbu, a fool hearty plan given that they were Chunin. Iruka smirked as he found the place he wanted, crouched, hidden, the Chunin waited. Pulling the zipper down on his vest he whispered.

“Alright. Do your thing.”

The tiny head that popped up, shook itself off from being cramped into the man’s vest. “They’re close.”

Iruka nodded. “Alright, who?”

“Izumo...Wolf is giving chase, to the east.”

Iruka nodded, carefully shifting himself to be protected by the tree the Chunin made a clone sent it a few feet off in front of him and nodded. The clone mirrored his chakra signature and no longer hid itself. To the Anbu, it would appear that he’d gotten lazy in covering his chakra signature, to Iruka...It was all part of the plan.

“They’ve diverted. Izumo’s leading him here.”

“Good.” Iruka crouched down low, waiting. 

“Kotetsu is fighting, delaying Hawk.”

“Where’s Raccoon?”

The tiny animal shook its head. “No eyes on him.”

Iruka sighed, that made him nervous but one threat at a time. The sounds of footsteps had Iruka smirking, his hands ready he waited. The footsteps grew louder, the sound of someone breathing came next. And then Izumo ran forward, grabbing his clone and ‘hiding’ beside a tree. Izumo didn’t even look in his direction, speaking with the clone.

“I think I lost him.”

“Good.” The clone nodded. “We gotta find Ko.”

“Yeah, I think he went south? I mean, I don’t know for sure...Stupid Anb-”

Iruka laid his hands carefully on the ground as Wolf landed a few feet away from Izumo and the clone.

“Really? Not even trying to hide?” The Anbu shook his head as he folded his arms over his chest.

Izumo swallowed, taking a step back alongside the clone of Iruka. “We found each other.” He waved to Iruka who nodded.

“Yeah, that doesn’t really mean much, you're still down a teammate and you're now caught by an enemy.”

Izumo grimaced at the chastisement. “But we couldn’t win in a fight anyway.”

“He’s right...We’re no match for you Wolf.” Iruka’s clone sourly stated.

“True, but you didn’t even try.” The Anbu shrugged as he took a step forward to ‘tag’ them as out, with the both of them in one place the match would end and they’d start over.

Izumo took a step back, though the clone didn’t.

Wolf huffed as the boy retreated behind his friend, looking to Iruka the Anbu muttered. “You better not be thinking of running or putting another barrier around yourself. That won’t work.”

The clone smirked. “No, it won’t.” He agreed.

Izumo smiled. “But then again that wasn’t the plan.”

Kakashi frowned only to curse when he looked down as a flare of light came from the foliage. Glaring up at Iruka, he saw the teen standing there with a smirk. His hands at his sides, that didn’t make sense.

“It worked!” Izumo cried giving the clone a high five.

“Great, we just gotta find Kotetsu and deal with Hawk.” Iruka’s clone nodded, the pair prepared to leave the Anbu behind. They both jumped when they found Raccoon leaning against an opposing tree, he shook his head.

“Forgot something?”

Wolf chuckled at his comrade who was lazily waiting for the boys to surrender now that they’d screwed up.

Iruka twitched, feeling the summons curl around his neck. Almost time. He watched as the scene played out before him. 

“We didn’t forget.” Izumo pouted. “But you were supposed to be a judge and not participate.”

Raccoon shrugged. “Things change, sometimes dramatically in a battle, you might forget an enemy or miscount even. You have to be able to adapt your plan accordingly.” His gaze shifted back towards Wolf. “They did better though.”

The man huffed. “Right, cause the fact that they’re still caught is an improvement.”

“They trapped you.”

Izumo and Iruka’s clone laughed as Raccoon called the other Anbu out. “Alright boys, the match is lost. Iruka let him out.”

The boy shook his head. “We haven’t lost, you didn’t catch us yet and Ko is still out there.” The clone petulantly argued.

Raccoon sighed. “You really want me to throw you two about?”

“One too many hits to the head Raccoon, think they need a break.” Wolf teased the teens.

The older Anbu chuckled even as the boys gave Kakashi the stink eye, coming forward prepared to ‘tag’ the boys as out. The Anbu came to a sudden stop when the sounds of footsteps came upon them.

“Crap,” Izumo muttered.

Iruka’s clone sighed. “Well, at least we found each other.”

Shikaku chuckled at the dour boys reply just as Kotetsu ran through the foliage to come to an abrupt halt. He looked around, seeing Raccoon out in the open and Wolf caught in a barrier. “Umm...This is not going well.”

The other boys shook their heads even as the Anbu laughed, Kotetsu jumped spinning around sharply only to back up when Hawk appeared. 

“Yeah, nice run around kid, but you didn’t lose me.”

Kotetsu nodded, stumbling back away from the Anbu. “Hey, we found each other.”

“By accident.” Wolf snorted even as he reached out to tap the barrier. “Out, now.”

Iruka stuck out his tongue. “We’re not done...We could win.”

Wolf rolled his eyes, waving a hand at his comrades. “Just tag them already so we can go again.”

Nodding Hawk stepped forward, prepared to do just that only for Kotetsu to back up further and come to be side by side with his friends. Kotetsu looked to Izumo and then Iruka. “The plan went well.”

“Yeah.” Izumo smiled. “Really well.”

“Better than I hoped.” Iruka’s clone answered honestly.

Shikaku shook his head as he stepped forward to tag the boys alongside Raidou. The two men paused, their gazes going down sharply when a flare of light encircled them.

“Son of a bitch!” Wolf shouted, pointing a hand at Iruka. “I knew it!”

Iruka’s clone laughed before dispelling, his friends laughing loudly even as Iruka came out of his hiding place. Dusting himself off from the dirt, he smiled at Wolf. “Yeah, but you didn’t tell your teammates did you?”

Wolf glared as the teen stepped forward. “Communication is key Wolf, didn’t you know that?” Iruka reached up to pet the squirrel which had been with him the whole time. Kotetsu unzipped his jacket to release his own. Izumo smiled as one crawled out from his shirt, he stroked his summons’ head.

“Found a way to communicate.” Izumo boasted.

The Anbu stared back in astonishment to the boy's little ruse. 

“I’ll be damned.” Hawk rasped.

The boys smirked. “Language,” Izumo called back at the man, even as he thanked his summons and dispelled them. 

Iruka laughed as he stepped forward to the trapped Anbu, smiling at Wolf. “I didn’t put myself in a barrier.” He crowed.

Wolf snorted. “No-No you did not.”

“Alright kid, let us out,” Hawk muttered as he glared at Shikaku. “You could have tagged them before I even got here.”

Shikaku glared back. “You could have gotten Kotetsu before getting here.”

The Chunin laughed at the bickering Anbu, Iruka released the seal yelping as Wolf wrapped an arm around his neck to pull him in tight. “That was a horrible plan.”

“But it worked.”

The Anbu sighed. “But it worked.”

Iruka smiled as he twisted in the man’s hold. “Should have told your teammates.” Iruka laughed as he was pushed away from the man. Izumo was still crowing about how they’d won even as Kotetsu explained to Raccoon the whole plot they’d come up with. 

“You’re still not using yourselves as a means of communication.” Raccoon lectured. “You might not have enough chakra to spare for a summons, but as a first step. You pass.”

The Chunin crowed in victory even as Hawk and Wolf shook their heads.

“Oh god, I can’t wait to tell Himiko!” Izumo went running through the woods even as Hawk shouted. “Get back here!” The Anbu took off after the kid, even as Kotetsu laughed at his friend's antics. He met Raccoon’s gaze and stated. “She’s not going to let you forget this for a while, defeated by squirrels.” The teen smiled.

“March.” Raccoon glared, a hastily pointed finger had Kotetsu laughed as he trailed back through the woods.

Iruka twisted about to stare at his Anbu. “So...How’s it feel to get taken down by an army of squirrels and a clone?”

“Ha-Ha.” Wolf shoved the boy forward. “All things considered...Not bad.”

Iruka sighed in relief as he fell in line with the Anbu, happy to know that they’d met Wolf’s approval. 

“You still have to work on that.”

“I know.” Iruka nodded. “But, we still managed to win...Better than before.” The boy sent a sidelong glance at the Anbu.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. “Better than before.” He mirrored.

Iruka shoved at the Anbu a moment in jest. “And hey, just think about it, we didn’t die. That’s real progress.” Iruka laughed as he ran away before he could get swatted at.

Wolf glared even as Iruka took off running to catch up with his friends. “Iruka! Get back here!” The Anbu took off after the teen, shouting as he went. “That’s not good enough!”

“Works for me!” The boy shouted back as he dodged in and out of the trees.

“Well, it doesn’t for me!” Shaking his head as he ran Kakashi shouted out at the fleeing teen. “Get back here, you’re all doing this over! And no squirrels!”

  
  
  



End file.
